Wiktionary
alt. (context rhetoric English) The use of a word of common or general signification for the name of a particular thing, as in "he has gone to town" for "he has gone to London". n. (context rhetoric English) The use of a word of common or general signification for the name of a particular thing, as in "he has gone to town" for "he has gone to London".
Usage examples of "autonomasia".
Here, by means of a clever autonomasia which went back to the sources and causes of crime, the district-attorney thundered against the immorality of the romantic school, then dawning under the name of the Satanic school, which had been bestowed upon it by the critics of the Quotidienne and the Oriflamme.
Here, by an adroit autonomasia, going back to the sources and causes of crime, the prosecuting attorney thundered against the immorality of the romantic school—then in its dawn, under the name of the Satanic school, conferred upon it by the critics of the Quotidienne and the Oriflamme.